System for chemical and biological decontamination

ABSTRACT

A system for chemical and biological decontamination has a source of oxygen. A reactor is coupled to the source oxygen. An optical source is coupled to the reactor. The system produces singlet delta oxygen that neutralizes chemical and biological contaminants.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of pathogendecontamination systems and more particularly to a system for chemicaland biological decontamination.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The need for effective chemical and biological decontamination systemswas recognized by the military for many years before the anthrax attackson the US congress. This need was based on knowledge of the capabilitiesof former cold war adversaries, third world antagonists and terroristgroups. One solution has been to use physical filters. These may workfor individual units but cannot clean large volumes of air quickly andefficiently. Another solution has been to use catalysts such as TiO₂ andactivate the catalyst with ultraviolet lamps. As the contaminated airpasses over near the catalyst, hydroxyl radicals are created. Thehydroxyl radicals cause the destruction of chemical and microbiologicalcontaminants in the air. Unfortunately these systems require a certainlevel of humidity and therefor are not effective in dry environmentssuch as airplanes.

Thus there exists a need for a chemical and biological decontaminationsystem that can purify large quantities of air and does not require acertain level of humidity in the air.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for chemical and biologicaldecontamination in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system for producing singlet delta oxygenthat may be used for chemical and biological decontamination inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is block diagram of a portion of a system for chemical andbiological decontamination in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a optical pump chamber used in for asystem for chemical and biological decontamination in accordance withone embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the optical pump chamber inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system for chemical and biologicaldecontamination in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a side diagram of a photosensitizer reactor in accordance withone embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 8 is a partial end diagram of the photosensitizer reactor of FIG. 7in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A system for chemical and biological decontamination has a source ofoxygen. A reactor is coupled to the source oxygen. An optical source iscoupled to the reactor. A wand is coupled to an output of the reactor inone embodiment. The system produces singlet delta oxygen thatneutralizes chemical and biological contaminants. It is well known thatsingle delta oxygen inactivates biogens and neutralizes chemicalspecies. This body of research has not been reproduced herein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 10 for chemical and biologicaldecontamination in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Thesystem 10 has an electrically powered light source 12 that is coupled toa wand 14. A source of oxygen 16 and a source of nitrogen 18 are alsocoupled to the wand 14. The optical source 12 excites the oxygen 16 inthe wand to form singlet delta oxygen (SDO) in a gaseous state. The SDOis then entrained in a flow of dry nitrogen to extend its lifetime andproject it through the wand 14 toward a target surface fordecontamination. In one embodiment, the system is transportable byplacing the system on a cart 20. The nitrogen increases the lifetime ofthe SDO in air and therefor its effectiveness in decontaminatingchemical and biological agents.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system 30 for producing singlet deltaoxygen that may be used for chemical and biological decontamination inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. The system 30 has aprime power system 32 which may be a bank of batteries. A powerconditioning system 34 is attached to the prime power system 32. Aytterbium (Yb) fiber laser(s) 36 is coupled to the power conditioningsystem 34. The Yb fiber laser 36 is coupled to the wand 38. A source ofoxygen 40 and a source of nitrogen 42 are also connected to the wand 38.The optical source 36 excites the oxygen 40 in the wand to form singletdelta oxygen (SDO) in a gaseous state. The SDO is then entrained in aflow of dry nitrogen to extend its lifetime and project it through thewand 38 toward a target surface for decontamination. The system 30 maybe used to produce singlet delta oxygen for other uses also, such as forthe production of superconductors. The source of oxygen in oneembodiment is liquid oxygen.

FIG. 3 is block diagram of a portion of a system 50 for chemical andbiological decontamination in accordance with one embodiment of theinvention. The system 50 has a prime power system 52, which may be abank of batteries. A power conditioning system 54 is coupled to theprime power system 52. A ytterbium (Yb) fiber laser(s) 56 is coupled tothe power conditioning system 54. The Yb fiber laser(s) 56 are coupledto a liquid oxygen pump chamber 58 by a plurality of optical fibers 60.A source of liquid oxygen 62 is also coupled to the liquid oxygen pumpchamber 58 where the liquid oxygen is excited and vaporizes. Nitrogen 64is pumped to the edge 66 of the output 68 of the liquid oxygen pumpchamber 58.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a optical pump chamber 58 used in for asystem for chemical and biological decontamination in accordance withone embodiment of the invention. The optical pump chamber 58 shows thepump photons 70 entering a longitudinal end of the waveguide (reactor)72. The gaseous singlet delta oxygen 74 exits the nozzle 68. The outlet66 for the nitrogen is also shown.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the optical pump chamber 58 inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention. The liquid oxygen (highpressure oxygen) enters the reactor (optical pump chamber) 58 at aninput 80. The structure of the reactor 58 has essentially two reflectivecavities (pair of concentric mirrors and second pair of concentricmirrors) to confine the pump light in a horizontal and verticaldirection. The interior structure of the reactor 58 is coated with adielectric material to reflect the pump light. The pair of concentricmirrors 82 is concentric and confocal with the second pair of concentricmirrors 84. The reactor 58 has an output 86 in which the excited highpressure oxygen excites the reactor 58.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system 100 for chemical and biologicaldecontamination in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. Thesystem 100 has an air intake system 102 that pumps the contaminated air(compressed air) 104 into an organic photosensitizer reactor 106. Anoptical source 108 is connected to the organic photosensitizer reactor106. The organic photosensitizer reactor 106 produces excited oxygen(e.g., singlet delta oxygen) that reacts with the contaminates andneutralizes them. The decontaminated air 110 is exhausted out of theorganic photosensitizer reactor 106. In one embodiment the opticalsource 108 is a plurality of diodes or a ytterbium doped fiber laser orflash lamp. In one embodiment, the optical source 108 has an output inthe red region of the optical spectrum. In one embodiment, the airintake system is a fan. A physical filter such as activated carbon maybe used in combination with the system 100. The organic photosensitizeris a red photon absorbing material and may be a modified porphyrin (suchas 5, 10, 15, 20 Tetrakis (2,6-dichlorophenyl) porphyrin); chlorin (suchas 5, 10, 15, 20 Tetrakis (2,6-dichlorophenyl) chlorin); bacteriochlorin(such as 5, 10, 15, 20 Tetrakis (2,6-M-hydroxphenyl) bacteriochlorin);phthalocyanine (such as Ga(III)chloro sulfo-phthalocyanine);napthalocyanine (such as 2,11,20,29-tetrakis(1,1-dimethylethyl)chloroaluminum(III) napthalocycnine); porphine (such as5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl chloroaluminum(III) Porphine); phorbide (such asPheophorbide a); purpurin (such as tin etiopurpurin).

FIG. 7 is a side diagram of a photosensitizer reactor 120 in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention. The reactor 120 has a diode array122 surrounding a photosensitizer coated tube 124. In one embodiment,the reactor is a photosensitizer coated tube consisting of a thin-walledsubstrate with a network of high-surface area channels (plurality ofmicro flow channels). The combination of thin-walled, high surface areachannels increases the production of singlet delta oxygen and the massthroughput of the system. In one embodiment, the tube and substrate aremade of optical quality glass such as borosilicate, quartz or fusedsilica. In one embodiment, the tube is transmissive at the wavelength ofthe optical source. This allows the interior channels to becomeactivated by the light. FIG. 8 is a partial end diagram of thephotosensitizer reactor 120 of FIG. 7 in accordance with one embodimentof the invention. This diagram shows the diode bars 126 separate fromthe power conditioners 128 of the diode arrays 122. The end view showsthe plurality of micro-channels in the ceramic photosensitizer reactortube 124.

Thus there has been described a system for biological and chemicaldecontamination that uses the highly effective and short lived speciesof oxygen singlet delta oxygen. The system can decontaminate largequantities of contaminated air and is not limited by the humidity of theair.

It is well known that singlet delta oxygen inactivates biogens andneutralizes chemical species. This body of research has not beenreproduced herein.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, it is evident that many alterations, modifications,and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light ofthe foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace allsuch alterations, modifications, and variations in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for chemical and biologicaldecontamination or generating singlet delta oxygen comprising: a sourceof oxygen; a reactor coupled to the source oxygen; and an optical sourcecoupled to the reactor.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the reactor isan organic photosensitizer.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein the sourceof oxygen is a compressed air.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein theoptical source is a diode array that shines light on the organicphotosensitizer.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the diode array hasan output light in a 600-800 nanometer wavelength range.
 6. The systemof claim 2, wherein the organic photosensitizer is placed on a substratehaving a plurality of micro flow channels.
 7. The system of claim 1,further including a source of nitrogen coupled near an output of thereactor.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the reactor is an opticalwaveguide.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the reactor has a crosssection that forms a pair of concentric mirrors.
 10. The system of claim9, wherein the cross section of the reactor forms a second pair ofconcentric mirrors that are concentric with the first pair of concentricmirrors.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the optical source is afiber laser.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the optical source is aplurality of diodes.
 13. The system of claim 1, wherein the opticalsource is coupled to a longitudinal end of the reactor.
 14. The systemof claim 13, wherein the reactor is an optical waveguide.
 15. A systemfor chemical and biological decontamination, comprising: an air intakesystem; an organic photosensitizer reactor coupled to the air intakesystem; and an optical source coupled to the organic photosensitizerreactor.
 16. The system of claim 15, further including a substrate onwhich an organic photosensitizer is deposited to from thephotosensitizer reactor.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the opticalsource has an output in a red region of the optical spectrum.